


PEECH iv- 



. A. Pi. BOTELER, OF 1^11 





THE OKGANIZATION OF THE HOUSE. 



DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 25, 1SC9. 



Mr. BoTELER. T have, ^Ir. Clerk, no set speech to malie. I have not come, 
here to-day with that iiitenuon. 1 have sought the lloor simply forth- iJ'ur- 
pose of submitting a few suggestive remarks, which, I trust, wUf jierve in some 
degree to promote the ohject which itiau}' here are sulce^ely desirous of accom- 
plishing — of bringing this discussion to a close, and ]>evfecting the organization 
of the House. Sir, I do not stand here to-day to make any appeals to the pre- 
judices, the passions, or the sectional pride of those who represent that quarter 
of the Confederacy from wlience I come. I have no desire to indulge in any 
pyrotechnic display of "glittering generalities," which, however much they may 
dazzle and amuse, are hut little calculated to bring about any practical solutiion 
of the difliculty i.; which we are now involved — like summer ligi.'.ning, they 
"play aiouud the liead but do not touch ihe heart." Nor is it my purpose to 
deal in any unjust, ungenerous, or unnecessarily harsh denunciation of those upon 
the other side of tlie Chamber, wlio, claiming to l>e conservative, are here in the 
exercise of their undoubted right as the Rf presentatives of the country, entertaining 
sentiments utterly adverse from the sentiments held by my constitueTitsand myself. 
I say I shall not indulge in any unnecessarily harsh denunciations of them. I re- 
cognize the fact that we who are ahSembled here to discharge the legitimate duties 
of legislation devolved upon us by our constituents, coming as we do fiom different 
and distant portions of this vast Confederacy, some of us from the rugged, rock- 
ribbed hills of the North, some from the ever-blooming plains of the South, some 
with the dust of the distant piaiiies on their ll^et, and others with the spray of 
either ocean an their brows, reple^enting iiiteiests and opinions iis variant as are 
the latitudes in which we live, must nt-cei^saiily differ on many points ; it is not to 
be expected of us that there should be perfect, uniformity of sentiment, and espe- 
cial!" in rt/gaid to those great questions of public concernment which, from time 
to time, stir up the depths of huujan feeling in our land. But, sir, it is expected, 
acid our country demands, patriotism requires at our hands, that, coming here 
under these circumitances, we should remember, in the language of a distin- 
guished citizen of iny good old Slate, " that we have a country to serve, as well 
as ajjarty to obey." 

But, sir, what do we see ? What is the spectacle which tliis House presents ? 
On this side of it, with those with w'lom it Ijas been my ]>ride and njy pleasure 
to act in good faith from first to last, what have we seen ? Three organizations — 
a Democratic party, a southern Opposition party, and an aiiti-Lecompton party; 
for we must recognize the last named as a paity, since, though insignificant in 
number, they are most potential in their influence. Well, sir, what have they 
been doing? They know, they feel, the country knows, that it is only by a 
union amongst them all tiiat we can beat down the nominee of the Republican 
party. They profess to be honest in their desire to accomplish that, and 1 know 
they are honest in tTieir opposition to that nominee. But yet, with the majority 
and with the power in their hands, they have never once exercised that power 



Tfiated by Lemuel 'towers. 



.11', 



/' 2 .51^^ 

to secure the object whicb they profess to be anxiously desirous of" attaining. 
And why? Because they have allowed their party prejudices and their paity 
pride to interfere with their patriotism. There has not b^n a bfillot taken iu 
which there has been a union of the ditfereut anti-Republican parties; and there 
will be no election resulting in the success of this side of the House unless there 
is such a union — a cordial and hearty union amongst us alh 

Now, sir, let me illustrate our position here. We are all on boaid the same 
ship, the glorious old ship which our fathers built for us. They laid its keel ; 
they fashioned its bulwarks; they forged the anchor of its hope; they launched 
it upon the ocean of national existence, and they gave us a chart by which to 
sail our ship. We have ditiered heretofore amongst ourselves; earnestly, sin- 
cerely, openly ditiered, as freemen should differ and will differ, in regaid to the 
construction of that chart; we have differed amongst ourselves in regard to the 
best mode of working the ship. Some of us have been for sailing l'.er upon this 
'"-4ack, some upon that tack; some have been for taking in a sail, others for 
shaKTiii^^iyj', a reef. We believe that, under Providence, our ship has been built 
to be the life-boftt of tl*^; world ; and throughout the progress of the voyage we 
have been constantly engaged in saving those who have come on board from 
the wrecks, the rafts, and rotten governments of the Old World. We have taken 
them into our vessel when they have been swimming for their lives. We have 
spread before them the table of our bounty; we have saved their lives and have 
given them an equal participation in the profits of our voyage; yet some of us 
(and I amongst the number) have seen, and seen with surprise and pain, that 
after they have been brought on board the shij), they have shown a propensity 
to interfere in the management of it, and we have said to them : '' We have 
brought you here to save you, and to make you prosperous, happy, and free ; 
but we are not willing that you shall take hold of the tiller and handle the 
ropes, until yui have been here long enough to know one rope from another.'" 

Well, sir, this has been a source of honest difference of opinion amongst those 
on board, whilst all of us have loved the old craft, from truck to keel, with all 
our hearts. Thus we have voyaged ; and whilst thus differing, what has hap- 
pened ? We have been drifting towards the breakers, we have been insensibly 
drawn towards a lee shore, where no light-house sends it friendly ray! A 
storm has aiisen upon us; we hear the spiiit of the tempest shrieking in the 
shrouds; clouds of danger, difficulty, and doubt are dimming the heaven of our 
hopes, and thi-eatening to burst in desolation over our heads! And not only 
that; but, sir, we see yonder "a band of mutineers" determined to take posses- 
sion of the vessel; men associated together to dispossess us of our rights, and 
to deprive us of our property, vho would thrust us down the hold, and batten 
the hatches over our heads. And yet, in the midst of all these imminent dan- 
gers which are threatening the destruction of the ship, we have been engaged 
here for weeks past in a disgraceful squabble upon thoretical points of poliiica! 
navigation ! 

Now, Mr. Clerk, T ask is it right, is it reasonable, can we answer to our con- 
stituents, and to the countiy, if we continue to allow these paltry, miserable dif- 
ferences to interfere with our duty, and to prevent coidifJ, united action among 
the conservatives of the House against those whom we recognize, and whom we 
are are bound to recognize as our common enemy. 

Sir, I have no practical suggestion to offer; there are older heads than mine 
here to do that; but I do protest against the eonlinuance of this most unneces- 
sary discussion. For myself, the House will do me the justice to say that I have 
occupied my seat upon this floor in silence duiing the seven weary weeks we 
have been in session, while this exciting discussion has been going on, and 
whilst the ittfamous Abolition outrage upon the district I have the honor to rep- 
resent has been the fruitful inspiration of almost every gentleman who has risen 
to address the House. Now, sir, I was present at that'horrible Harper's Feriy 
rnd ; I was a witness to that abominable outrage ; I saw the blood of my friends 



e.. 



shed in the streets of Harper's Ferry; anj^ if there is a man hero who has a 
ria:ht to discuss that sul>ie(--t, it is mys<^lf ;yand yet I liave forborne. I heve re- 
iiirtiiied silent for v.nnous leasoiis, iioi theJenst of wliicli is, that the dislinafuished 
vSeiiator before ine (Mr. Mason) is enirs^ed in tlie i!ivestip;ation of the facts con- 
rjected with tiie wliole affair, aud wiH'y)iesent them fully and fairly, at the pro- 
per time, before the country, to leave it juds^e of them, after which I shall avail 
myself of a suitable oppoitunity to mention some circumstances to the House 
concerning that foray which I wish the country to know, aud which justice to 
my constituents requires that it shall know from me. 

There is another reason vviiich, I must confess, has also influenced me in this 
matter. I know (and I have been painfully conscious of it whenever my mind 
has reverted to that dark day) that when the heart feels most, the tongue refuses 
to perform its wonted task. 

And, sir, when I have heard gentlemen on tlie other side of the floor stand 
up and derisively refer to that infamous outrage, I have been hardly able to 
retain my seat and I'efraiii fr(,>m the expression of my indignation in terras which, 
might not have sounded parliamentary. My mind, sir, has again and again, 
duiing this discussion, gone back to that gloomy October evening, when I stood 
by the side of a friend, and laid my hand upon liis brow wher^ the death damp 
was gathering, while the blood was gushing from his noble heart, and I have 
been often dis[)osed to say, in apology for my forbearance: 
"Oil ! pardon me, tliou bleedina; piece of earth, 
That I atn meek and gentle with these butchers!" 
For I tell you, sir, that in my opinion, the leaders of the Abolition party, which 
is seeking to control tlie organization of tliis House, and to obtain posst-ssion of 
the Government, are as much the murderers of my friends at Harper's Fenry as 
were old John Brown and his deluded followers ; and I think that the commit- 
tee engaged in the investigation in my State, and the investigation on the part 
of the Senate, will prove that the agitation of the slavery question by the great 
leaders of the Republican party has been the direct cause of the Harper's Ferry 
invasion. 

I tell you further, sir, that the Commonwealth of Virginia has come to the 
determination that this shall be the end of it ; that this slavery agitation shall 
cease, so tar as she is concerned ; that her territory shall be protected from a 
repetition of that bloody raid. She has taken some indemnity for the past and 
means to have security for the future. And, sir, to make her determination 
gcod, she has buckled on her arinc , and her borders are now bristling with 
bayonets, for she feels compelled to take the guardianship of her rights and her 
lionor into her own hands. Heretofore she has trusted to the tie of consan- 
guinity; heretofoie she has relied upon the linked shields of all the States for 
her protection ; but, sir, at a moment when she dreamed not of it, she has been 
smitten upon tlie cheek. Our honored old motlier has been struck a blow which 
has roused her children from their false security, and rallied them to her res- 
cue. We now discover that we must depend upon our own right arm 1,0 pro- 
tect our State from further outrage, so long as there remains a " Republican " 
organization in Congress and the country. Why will you persist, men of the 
North, in maintaining that organization ? What good do you expect to eftect 
by it? You formed it, so you have said, for the sole purpose of making Kansas 
a free State. You have Kansas, and when she comes into this Union, she will 
come in "tVee." If there be any other purpose that you expect to accomplish 
by it, it must be to transfer your "irrepressible conflict" from the Territories 
to the States. 

But, gentlemen of the other side, I know there are some among you who 
profess to be corfservative, and are conservative, as compart-d with the moving 
spirits of your paity. The distinguished Q-entleman from Ohio (Mr. Corwin) 
wiio sits before me, and who has entertained us and held this House for two 
days in listening admiration, by his intellectual efforts, claims to be — I wish he 



I came here to vindicate that principle side by side with those whom I 
believed to be conservative men from tlie grent States of Pennsylvania and New 
Jersey, (that old battle-ground of the Revolufion, where my fathers stood with 
tiieirs, shoulder to shoulder, in the snows of Trenton and the hot sands of Mon- 
inouth,) to vindi(;ate that great piincii^le of protection to Ainei-Jcan imlustiy, in 
accordance with the necessities of the times. But I find you rallying behind a 
sectional banner, and giving aid and comfort to that intolerant sectional or- 
ganization of the North, the fundamental principle of which is opposiiion to 
slavery, I cannot, therefore, expect that any appeal I may make to you will be 
listened to. 

Mr. Hale. Will the gentleman from Virginia allow nh to ask him a question ? 

Mr. lioTELER. I certainly will j)ermit the gentleman to ask me a, question? 

Mr. Hale. You say you find us arrayed against your rights and interests, 
and that you came here to endeavor to promote the interests of Pennsylvania. 
I would like to know what rights or interests of Virginia the Pennsylvania mem- 
bers have attacked on this floor, or what lights ttiey propose to attack? We 
have stood by you, as I understand. In your Harper's Ferry foray, as }'ou call 
it, Pennsylvunia acted the part of a sister Statp, according to the testimony of 
Governor Wise himself, and returned your fugitives from justice. Pennsylvania, 
sir, has always done her duty to her sister States; and I defy any gentleman 
from Virginia, or any other gentleman upon this floor, to show that in any re- 
spect Pennsylvania has failed in her duty to any sister State in any manner 
whatever. When gentlemen deal in general charges like these, they ought to 
specify wherein we ai'e interfering with their rights. 

Mr. BoTELER. I recognize the fact — and it is a fact which affords me pleasure, 
a fact of which every Pennsylvanian may well be proud — that her Governor did 
his duty fully, fairly, faithful!, in returning to Virginia the fugitives from her 
justice, and that he was sustained by the people of Pennsylvania in that patri- 
otic act; and, sir, I came here prepared to testify to the St^.te of Pennsylvania 
my grateful appreciation of the conduct of her Governor. I am still grateful to 
tlie people of Pennsylvania, who, I believe, are misrepresented upon this floor 
by those who have fiom fiist to last acted with the other side, to whom, however, 
there may be some exceptions. (Referring to those who voted for Mi'. Gilmer.) 

The gentleman asks me when he had acted contrary to the interests of Vir- 
ginia? You have done it, sir, on every ballot in whic-h you have given your 
vote for a sectional candidate, whom the people of Virginia must regard, if 
elected to that chair, as having been forced upon the country against their inte- 
rests, against their wishes, and against the protestation of every man, woman, 
and child, wiihin her borders. 

Now, sii', a word to Massachusetts. 

Mr. Hale. I would atk the gentleman if we are not the best judges of what 
our constituents desire? 

Mr. Vallan'uigham. I rise to a question of order. I object to this inter- 
ruption. 

Mr. Hale. Has the gentleman the right to say 

(Loud cries of '"Order!" from the Democratic benches.) 

Mr. Hale. Has the gentleman the right to say 

(Ciies of "Order!" "Order!") 

Mr. Vallandigham. I insist upon the point of order. 

Mr. BoTELER. The election which returned these gentleman here took place 
a month before the John* Brown raid. The people of the North know, they 
must know, they cannot fail to see, what is the inevitable tendency of this slave- 
ry agitation. They have been told by you, the politicians, you the leaders — 
and we have allowed ourselves to be deluded by the syren song sung in our 
ears — that you do not intend to interfere with slavery within the States. Per- 
sonally, I believe you do not. Personally, there is not a leader among you all — 
not even Fred Douglass — who cau be found with courage enough to come into 



States and interfere -with slavery there. But, from year to year, 

[ten the dvmn of abolitionism in all th'^ highwuys and byeways ot 

Prom your pulpit and press and foruni, in season and out, ot sea- 

'6 preached to ttie rising- generation tiat slavery is a curse; and 

'ery sentiment has stinuilated others, ,iess careful of tlieir personal 

. me amongst us with a hostile inte,nt, lo steal our slaves and incite 

J insurrection, / 

oan illustrate this by an incident which occurred in my own county the 

.Jier day. That poor wretch, Coppie, a week or two before his e.xscution, stood 

at the window of his prison, piessiug his brow against the iron bars across it, 

looking out intently in the street at the happy groups of negroes assembled 

there, and after some time, he turned away and sobbed. A friend asked why 

he sobbed. "Sir," said he, "I have seen, day after day, the negroes in your 

streets, and they are better clad than the Uboring people of the northern States ; 

they are well cared for in every way, and see, oh ! see how happy !" Said iny 

friend, '< What did you expect? " Oh," said he, " I have been taught to l>elieve 

that they were downtrodden and oppressed, and were ready to cluch at liberty; 

but they refused it when we offered them the boon." 

Now^ Mr. Clerk, who is responsible for this? On whose head is the blood of 
Coppie? There was not a man amongst the Harper's Ferry iusurgenis except 
John Brown, who was not born since 1830, and who did not grow up under 
the influence of abolition preaching. This sir, is a signi'iicant fact, which I com- 
mend to the thinking portion of my countrymen. There was not one of them 
who had not breathed tiie atmosphere of abolition, and who had not his mind 
poisoned against the South by such teachings. You do not care for the negro. 
You admit the fact. It is a most miserable hobby upon which you have ridden 
into power. Now, in the name of our common country, I demand that you dis- 
band your anti-slavery party and take down your piratical Ihig! 

When sir, I have heard the name of a gentleman called here, day after day, 
first on the roll — a great, historic name, (Mr. Adams,) I have been reminded of 
Massachusetts in her prouder day in the heroic age of the Republic. I have 
been reminded of a historical incident connected with the county in which I 
live — that county selected by John Brown for his blocdy raid ; and feel that 
I have a right to appeal to the Massachusetts delegation here, if they are not 
deaf to the voice of consanguinity, and if they are, I appeal from them to their 
people on this question ; 1 demand of them to come up to the rescue of the 
country now as they did in the good old times of their revolutionary fathers. 

The district which 1 represent, and the county where I live — that county 
made famous by the raid of Brown — was the first, the very first in all the South,^ 
to send succor to Massachusetts in the time of her direst necessity ! In one of 
the most beautiful spots in that beautiful county, within rifle shot of my resi- 
dence, at the base of a hill, where a glorious spring leaps out into sunlight from 
beneath the gnarltd roots of a thunder-riven oak, there assembled en the 10th 
of July, 1775, the very first band of southern men who marclied to the aid of 
Massachusetts.' They met there, then, and their rallying cry was, "a bts-line 
for Boston." That beautiful and peaceful valley — the "valley of the Shenan- 
doah" — had never been polluted by th^- footsteps of a foe; for even the Indians 
themselves had, according to tradition, kept it free from tlie incursion of tlieir 
enemies. It was the imntiiig range and neutral ground of the aborigines. The 
homes of those who lived there then were far beyond the reach of danger. But 
Boston vvjis beleagured ! The lieaiths of your fathers^weie threatened with pol- 
lution, and the fathers of those whom I represent, rallied to their protection — 

"Tlioy left the plow share in the niontcl, 
, Tlieir flocks ai.d hevda without a fold, 
Tlio sickle in the nngliorn grain, 
Tlicii- corn hait'irarnered on the nlain, 
And mustered in their simple dress, 
For wrongs of yours to seek redress." 



Thus they mustered around the spring; I speali: of, and from tliendse whom I 
their "Bee-line for Boston."/ Before tliey raaiclied. thev "^"-^ ]> lia and New 
who survived would assemli>le there fiftv -""• - cONGR^^^ 

fore to their companions, the bone, \l\\|\\WWg^^ 3l9 1 ^ .Jl bleac-* to 
on your northern hills. ®*-*" "** 

Sir, I have often heard fj'om tlie linsi survivor of that band of patriots the in- 
cidents of tlieir first ineetiug and their march ; how they made some six hun- 
dred miles in thirty days — twenty miles a day — and how, as they neared their 
point of destination, Washington, who happened to be making a leconnoissance 
in the neighborhood, saw them approaching, and recognizing the linsey-woolsey 
hunting-shirts of old Virginia, galloped up to meet and gieet them to the camp; 
how, when he saw their captain, his old companion-in-arins, Ste])heuson, who had 
stood by his side at the Great Meadows, on Braddock's fatal field, and in jnany 
an Indian campaign — and who reported hiniself to his commander as ^''from 
the riffht bank of the Potomac''' — he sprang from hishorse and clasped his old 
friend and companion-in-arms with both hands. He spoke no word of wel- 
come; but the eloquence of silence told what his tongue could not articulate. 
He moved along the ranks, shaking the hand of each, from man to man, and 
all the while — as my informer told me — the big teare were seen rolling down 
his cheeks. 

Ay, sir, Washington wept! And why did the glorious soul of Washington 
swell with emotion ? why did he weep ? Sir, they were tears of joy ! and he 
wept because he saw that the cause of Massachusetts was practically the cause 
of Virginia; because he saw that her citizens recognized the great principles 
involved in the contest. These Virginia volunteers had come spontaneously. 
They had come in resj)onse to the words of her Henry, that were leaping like 
live thunder through the laud, telling the people of Virginia that they must fight, 
and tight for Massachusetts. They had come to rally with Washington to de- 
fend your fathers' firesides, to protect their homes from harm. Weil, the visit 
has been returned f John Brown selected that very county, whose citizens went 
so promptly to the aid of the North when the North needed aid, as the most 
appropriate place in the South to carry ont the doctrines of the "irrepressible 
coufiict;" and, as was mentioned in the Senate yesterday, the rock where Lee- 
man fell was the very rock over which Morgan and his men nmrched u few hours 
after Stephenson's command had crossed the river soine ten miles farther up. 

May this historical leminiscence rekindle the embers of patriotism in our 
hearts! Why should this nati(ni of ours be rent in pieces by this irrepressible 
conflict? Is it irrepi-essible? The battle will not be fought out upon this floor. 
For when the dark day comes, as come it may, when this question, that now 
divides and agitates the ht-arts of the people, shall be thrust from the forum of 
debate, to be decided by the bloody arbitrament of the sword, it will be the 
saddest day for us and all mankind thas the sun of Heaven has ever shone upon. 

I trust, Mr. Clerk, that this discussion will now cease. I trust that all will 
make an effort, by balloting, and by a succession of ballotings, to organize the 
House. I trust that we will go on in our efforts, day after day, until we do ef- 
fect an oiganization, and proceed to perform the duties wliich we were sent here 
to discharge; that the grcfsat heart of our country will cease to pulsate with the 
anxiety which now causes it to throb; and that we will each, in our own ap- 
pi'opriate sphere, do what we can to make ouiselves more worthy of the inesti- 
mable blessings, which a good God has given us, and which can only be enjoyed 
by a free, a virttious, and tinited people. (Applause.) 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




